Phobia review

Breaking Benjamin’s albums grow better and better

The musicians playing in Breaking Benjamin are steadely struggling forward to a musical success. Though the band is rather young, each release they make gains more and more attention. Phobia is their third album and probably the most expected. In May, Diary Of Jane, the first single from the new album leaked to the Internet, thus giving the fans an apportunity to appreciate the forthcoming release. This promotional support evoked a grate ammount of positive responses, which were predicting a bright future to the album that wasn’t even finished yet. Due to their previous work We are not Alone, which had very good sales, Breaking Benjamin has acquired a whole army of fans and was traveling all over the States during last two years. Now Breaking Benjamin is already holding pretty high position in nu–metal, conquering its space among such bands as Creed or Godsmack.

Phobia has a really dark atmosphere

The band has gone for a much more melodic and dark feel. Ben Burnley’s growls that were found on previous albums are mostly left out of the picture, and while the heavy, downtuned riffs are still present, they don’t stand out nearly as much as they did on earlier records. This leaves him room for more experementation as a singer. Though Ben didn’t give up with the screaming, it’s still there in songs like Topless and even their first single, Diary Of Jane. The band has obviously developed in creating depressive atmosphere. They keep on experimenting and throw in some piano on a few songs to add overall darker air. The lyrics are quite strong here. They have a way of explaining the meaning of the song while giving the freedom to use your own judgement. And of course, the moods change with the music. If there’s an angry moment, the words are there to aid the sound.

The most ambicious album from Breaking Benjamin

The gossips around Breaking Benjamin may start blaming it in striving to stick to mainstream, just like it happened, for example, with Limp Bizkit. It is hard to agree with this point of view. They may be right when saying that Phobia sounds less heavy, but there is a whole bunch of new acquired advantages. Phobia is Breaking Benjamin’s most musically complex, lyrically the most thought provoking and mature, it is their most ambitious album and the most complete work they have done. Bernley’s abilities to reilization of his ideas are developing in various ways showing his profecional growth in comparison with the previous records. Breaking Benjamin is trying to expand its musical horizon and this is the right direction they have chosen. In fact, it is hard to call Phobia a soft, mainstream album. So if you want heavy guitar riffs, soaring vocals and ruthless rithm section, then this is a record to look out for.